Raphaël Millière (France)

DPhil in Philosophy

I am a first year DPhil candidate in philosophy at the University of Oxford, working under the supervision of Prof. Martin Davies. Before coming to Oxford, I graduated from the École Normale Supérieure and the Sorbonne in Paris. I also spent a year teaching as a French Lector at the University of Cambridge.

Provisional DPhil title: “Boundaries Of Self-Awareness: An Investigation Into Structural Features Of Subjectivity”

Supervisor: Professor Martin Davies

My philosophical interests lie mainly within philosophy of mind, phenomenology, metaphysics and philosophy of perception. My DPhil dissertation tackles the issue of pre-reflective self-awareness, investigating the legitimacy of this concept through a transdisciplinary study of the boundaries of self-consciousness in a variety of anomalous and pathological cases – ranging from psychiatric disorders to full body illusions in Virtual Reality.

In recent works, I have also focused on other topics such as the distinction between illusions and hallucinations, the philosophical significance of Virtual Reality, the epistemology of metaphysical realism and the conceivability principle in the epistemology of modalities. I am also affiliated to the Center for Subjectivity Research at the University of Copenhagen, and a member of the ARTEMOC transdisplinary research group on altered states of consciousness in Paris. For more information on my research projects, talks and publications, see my academic webpage: http://www.raphaelmilliere.com

Aside from philosophy, I have a passion for opera singing; I was trained at the Paris Conservatory of Music as a bass-baritone, and I regularly take part in operas and recitals. I am already involved as a singer in various musical projects in Oxford, and look forward to perform in the Ertegun House which provides an ideal setting for concerts.

I am immensely grateful for the academic and financial support of the Mica and Ahmed Ertegun Scholarship Programme, without which I could not have started a DPhil in Oxford. I firmly believe that it is more important than ever to promote the humanities, which is another why it is a privilege and an honour to be an Ertegun Scholar.